scuttlebutt

Items from across the Triad and Beyond, compiled by Keith T. Barber and Jordan Green

Candidate reprises drug stem campaign Ben Holder, a candidate for the District 1 seat on Greensboro city council, pulled out what looked like an oversize pen from a black plastic bag in front of the council at its most recent meeting on July 21. “That’s the new crack pipe kit,” he said. “You still got the same issue. You just disguise it with a pen.… They’re placed both behind the counter. It’s the same game.” The city council passed an ordinance in 2005 prohibiting the sale of “drug stems,” described as “glass vials or tubes which may contain novelty items of insignificant value,” that “facilitate the ingestion and/or inhalation of crack cocaine.” At the time, the tubes typically held a cheap artificial flower. Assistant chief Anita Holder (no relation) said the Greensboro Police Department had not conducted an investigation at the spartan BP, adding that the department